Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

1. After reading the story, make a list of all the qualities that the story is suggesting are important in women. When making your list, think about physical qualities and the personality qualities that appear to be important. 

- Beautiful, good complexion, roast cheeks, nice hair, fair skin, skinny (physically perfect) as Snow White got what she wanted because of her looks
- Caring, kind, giving
- Feeble/weak
- Naivety

- Willingness to stay at home, cleaning, cooking and housekeeping instead of going to work, shown when the dwarfs allow her to with with them under the condition that she does these things
- Submissive because if they don't do what they're told, bad things will happen to them. This is shown by the dwarfs instructing her not to let anyone in, however, she does this and almost dies
- Emotional as this is what saved Snow White from being killed in the forest

2. Next, make a second list that identifies traits/qualities in women that appear to be undesirable in the story. When making this list, you can think about what the opposite qualities would be to the ones you listed in question one and you can also consider the wicked Queen. Like your first list, consider physical characteristics and personality. 

- Envy
- Ugly/not beautiful
- Overweight
- Old
- Different
- Short hair
- Self obsession, and competing to be the most beautiful
- Power and anger
- Opinionated
- Negative/pessimistic
- Cunning
- Smart
- Gullible as Snow White let the woman in multiple times, even though she had already been deceived and poisoned, and therefore, she almost died a number of times

3. Now, see if you can make a third list that identifies traits/characteristics (both physical and personality based) that appear to be important in the male characters of the story.
- Charming (attractive)
- Muscular, strong, athletic
- Wealth
- Dominant and controlling
- Assertive, head strong
- Choices governed by the beauty of a woman
- Heroic and protective
- Romantic
- Hard working
- Generosity and kindness
- Merciful

4. After looking over the three lists, are there any conclusions that you can make about what the story is trying to teach its audience about the roles of men and women? Explain in as much detail as you can. 
After reading the story and looking over the three lists that I have made, it is clear to me that the story is trying to teach the audience a lot about the stereotypical roles of men and women. It emphasises the idea that women have to be beautiful in order to get what they want and suggests that all women aspire to be the most beautiful. It also shows that women are to stay at home, cooking and cleaning, as apparently men aren't able to do that themselves, and that they should not go to work as that is the man's job. It stresses the importance of women doing exactly what they're told as the man is always right and bad things will happen if they don't abide to their rules. It also suggests that women should not be self-obsessed and envious of others. For men, it suggests that they should be dominant and controlling and shows that if they do this, they will always get what they want. It also displays the idea that men are only to choose their wife based on their beauty (linking back to the fact that beauty is an important quality for women to have), and that the man chooses their wife, it's not a mutual decision. As well as that, it portrays men as heroic and charming, generous and kind. Additionally, the men in all fairytales are portrayed in a positive light no matter what their appearance or personality is, however, the females are only portrayed in a positive light if they have specific qualities. All of the negative qualities in men are justified, covered over and hidden, however, not for the women.

5. How would you describe Snow White's relationships with: 
a) The Wicked Queen:
I would describe the relationship between Snow White The Wicked Queen as the complete opposite to a good relationship. The Wicked Queen is extremely envious of Snow White's beauty and hates her for it. She attempts to kill her numerous times just because of her jealousy and the fact that she wants to be the most beautiful. 

b) The Dwarfs:
Snow White's relationship with the dwarfs is quite good as they gave her a place to stay when she didn't have anywhere else to go and in turn, they ask her to just do the housekeeping. However, they are quite controlling over her which is not part of a good relationship.

c) The Prince:
The relationship between The Prince and Snow White is really odd. They hadn't even met before but The Prince somehow fell in love her, just because of her beauty. They don't really have any relationship at all because they hadn't met, but they end up getting married in the end due to The Prince's commands. Much like her relationship with the dwarfs, it is not the best relationship as The Prince is really controlling over her, as shown by the fact that he basically forced her into marriage.

6. Considering this story is still most often read to little boys and girls, do you think it provides a realistic view of men and women? Why/why not? 
This story does not give a realistic view of men and women at all. It places the idea in their head of the stereotypical man and woman and leads them to believe that this is reality and that this is how men and women are supposed to act. 

7. Can you think of any modern stories (film/TV shows/books) that you know of that promote similar messages about men and women as Snow White? 
- The Bachelor/Bachelorette
- The Big Bang Theory